Sunday, February 25, 2007

Top Ten Site I visited over the week (25/2/2006)

As this week draw towards a close, I went through some quality blogs, and some not-so-quality blogs in the net. Nevertheless, the topten site that keep drawing me back either have really good content, or content so bad that I go back once in awhile to have a laugh.

I shall give a small mention to both type, but I will not mention which is the good or which is the bad, you should be able to judge them yourself.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Istana - World scouts day

A group of 7 of year 4 ventures rendered their service at the istana today. According to the invitation card, the president requested for me ( and everyone else who is present). It includes prestigious guests like member of the PAP, Mr Eric Low, an ambassador of a country that I do not know of. I am guessing Indonesia, since his name was, His Excellency Mr Wadarma, or somewhere along the line. It was also our privilege to witness the arrival our dearest PM and SM, not forgetting our president and the first lady in person.

However, some displeasure was experienced when one of the cisco guard thinks that we are less than human, and did not even treat us with basic respect. to make things clear, not all of the cisco guards are like this particular one, no doubt, many are friendly, and helpful, but perhaps this "black sheep" may cause the impression of the guards to be bad. We just need one "bad apple" isn't it? Perhaps, the "service starts from you" campaign should start with all the cisco guards themselves.

This gentleman, who was the president of the scouts council, who arrived without the invitation card (yes, the one in the picture). Somehow, I do not know how, we thought that since he was part of the council list, we will check his attendance with the council list and write him a card, case closed. However, we could not find his name. Thus we called up one of our in-charge to find out what we could do. Dominic talked on the phone, passed it to the president of scouts council, after which passed it to this cisco guard. Lets name the cisco guard - Barney.

So after a long serious talk on the phone in a cubicle, Barney walks out, gave the phone to dominic, and walked away. Imagine this scenario, a guard that used your phone, gave it back to you, and walked away without saying a word, there are people waiting for you elsewhere to check their attendance, what would you do naturally? Put it right back in your pocket, and continue with your work right? That was exactly what dominic did.

Guess what.

Barney looked over and shouted like he never shout before, "LISTEN TO THE PHONE LA! (in chinese)" With his eyes popping out, and his mouth opening twice as big as my mouth could ever open. Seriously, I was quite shocked at the rude gesture. Dominic gave a -.- stare, and solved the problem by writing a card to the president of scouts council. The president (of scouts council) managed to drive into istana successfully.

Barney walks over, and asked us (not nicely) "You all know where his car supposed to park or not?!" Look, we do not have his list, or rather we could not find his name on the list, so how the hell are we supposed to know where the car is supposed to park. I gave an innocent stare and said" No, because we does not have his name."

He hollered back at us, as if we owed him a million dollars, "BU ZHI DAO! ("don't know" in chinese)" If not for our school reputation, I would have attitude him. So what if we are service scouts, so what if you work in istana. What truly infuriates me is his popping eye and big mouth that made it look as if we are under him or something. But sorry, I did not know of any relationship between scouts and cisco guard. After which he went around talking to the other guards, looking at us with a sneer. what the hell. I was controlling myself not to go over and bash his "bashing friendly" face.

In case you are not clear, the guards do hold a list of guests too, we are just making their job easier by taking attendance ourselves, to think we are being reciprocated with such rudeness and unfriendliness that we would not expect from the guards of Istana.

Reducing Teenagers' Stress! - Academics

I had came across many blogs in Singapore that commented on the harshness of the education system, which causes stress and fatigue to many of our students. Children, adults (and teenagers) alike, all face stress in this fast paced society. For teenagers, the stress comes from school, homeworks, BGR relationship etc etc.

I am a teenager myself, I fully understand the immense stress faced by our students. It is a competitive society, while our parents strive hard to compete with others for higher income, we are faced with expectations to score high in school and are judged upon the number of "As" we have scored. No doubt, a straight As student will be the most likely to be favoured by teachers and adults. Sometimes, we want to suceed, we want to score, we have a goal, but we could not keep to it. The result? Getting stressed over a test because you didnt study for it.

When we take a step back, look around us, we observe how the happy people around us are able to lead a more comfortable life. When we reflect, it is convenient to blame our stress and unhappiness on the organisation, the teachers, the homeworks. However, we will always miss out on ourselves, it takes two hands to clap, we played a part in creating the stress that is layed upon us.

1. All work no play makes Jane a dull girl, all play no work makes Jane a dumb girl!Sometimes, we have to look at things with both angle. It is not wrong to mention that academics are not and should not take up 100percent of our time. Who would love to be a nerd with no friends, no social life. Then again, who would want to be a person who only knows how to talk, but has no substance in him? To set things on the right foot, teenagers should be able to balance both work and play as both are equally important. In my article, I am focussing on releasing stress in terms of academics, thus do bear with me as this article is slanted towards building up your academic capabilities and handling stress due to your academic worries.

2. Do your homework beforehand, it helps! As much as I want to disbelieve this statement, it is totally true. Don't you feel a sense of accomplishment when you finish your work? When you step into your classroom the next day, you will just feel like exclaiming to the class "hey look! I finished my homework!" This builds up your self-confidence, as well as reduces the stress of having to get berated by your teachers. Even if no praise comes in, by doing homework on time, it does help to alleviate the stress during the test period as you would have less things to study for. By this time, my friends reading this blog would be staring hard at me because, myself could not accomplish this "feat". The only reason that can justify not doing homework is the lack of guidance. I am facing the problem of having no one to face to when I encounter difficult sums, or tough questions, thus I am unable to finish some of my homework, forcing me to do them in school. However, I will try my best to finish the questions that I know, which would in turn allow me to ask my friends the question that I am unclear of. At the end of the day, it is your own conscience that you need to answer to.

3. Study gradually, not mug everyday I am a teenager too, i understand the need to socialise via msn, friendsters etc. However, it only takes a little effort for you to take our your books and revise certain topics, it will greatly reduce the tensions created during the exams period. When it comes to exam, the task of memorising certain formulas will be easier as practice makes perfect. Furthermore, if the concept is clear, the memory work will just flow through.

4. What are YOUR expectations ?When your parents or teachers set goals and target for you, don't you feel pressured by their high, and sometimes unrealistic expectation, of you? You know yourself best, you know your limitation as well as your strength. Only you can set goals that will truly stretch yourself to the fullest potential. When you are moving towards a goal set by your parents/teachers, you are being pushed, however when you are moving towards a goal set by yourself, you are being attracted by the goal, you are being pulled. You work with reluctance, with sorrow, towards a goal others set for you. You work with passion, with delight, towards a goal that you set. So who should set the goal?!

5. Do not forget to relax! Relaxation does not mean 7 hours of maplestory, 3 hours of dotA everyday. It can mean taking a short breather from your hectic schedule to do some exercise. It has been clinically proven that exercise will help to reduce stress! It will release a hormones that will make you feel more relaxed. You can also relax by listening to soothing music, engage yourself in a spiritual enrichment programming. Depending on individuals' likes and dislikes, this relaxation activity would greatly help to reduce your stress. However, do your relaxation activities in moderation, or else it may have a reverse effect. (for example, you played soccer for 4 hrs each day, on grounds that is a form of "relaxation", neglected your studies, when test approaches, you are stress all over again!).

I have tons of homework waiting for me to do. Blogging is one of my form of relaxation! Have fun people!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Why do you blog?

Bloggers out there! ever wonder the purpose of you blogging? Don't tell me blogging is just part of your life, shitting is just part of your life and it has a purpose alright. Imagine all the shit in you for 18 years.To me, blogging is just like the newspaper, and bloggers are just like journalist. Mind you, uncertified journalist, a newspaper thats free for all, which MAY contain rubbish as well.

Some people blog for MONEY ok, imagine, just imagine the newspaper's priority is to earn money, what will happen? Obviously the front page may read "sex for sale" since sex sells (like hot cakes). But hell no? The main purpose of newspaper is to deliver important and vital messages to the public. Of course, money is a sure bonus. If you blog for money, you will still be part of the "newspaper". Ever heard of the section that is always placed right at the bottom? I think it starts with C.

With millions of blogs in the blogosphere, they can easily be broken down into certain categories similar to the newspaper, particularly Straits Time , Singapore. Some bloggers may choose to report on international news, and give their opinions upon it, some report on daily sights around the local community. We also see blogs on technology, fashion, cars, money, lifestyle...

Blogging could just be the next media, infact it is already the next media! (think tammynyp).

However, there are things that sets apart blogging from newspaper. It is considered an alternative media, thus its creditablity is greatly reduced. I am not saying that bloggers do not have a credible background, but one would always consider the newspaper as a more reliable source than blogs. All this for a very simple reason, newspaper and prints ' aritcles have to go through more than 1 person for it to be published, however for blogs, all it takes is one irresponsible teenager to write an article and press a button, tadah! Published, no cost.

And of course, there isn't a section in nespaper called "personal life", and i think that is the essence of most blogs. Although I seriously detest blogs that follows the likes of "xiaxue" and try to draw attention to their personal life. Seriously, no one gives a damn, about what u did after you woke up, and you peed, and you get horny because you saw a bitch. Whatever. In personal life, I am talking about bloggers able to relate incidents to their own experience, this makes reading news less boring isn't it? No matter which type of blogs, it is always good to add a personal touch to make the blog truly a blog, and not an informative website.

I must say, in the context of singapore, there are tons of blogs that belongs to people who just wish to report on their personal life, they do not wish for you to read them, they do not appreciate your criticism. Fair enough, I will leave them and their personal life alone. When the blogosphere have too many "xiaxue" around, I think I may start to to hear netizens chanting "who let the dogs out..."

And the question "Do we have to write controversial posts to draw attention?" Xiaxue did it, Mrbrown did it. So should I jump on the bandwagon, and do it too? I may be able to grab a tv stint along with it! Use your brain. Obviously, do not write controversial topics for the sake of it being controversial, it will not bring out any substance and people will rate you as "fake". Freedom of speech requires responsibilities along with it too! When you are rationale and have evidence backing you up, go ahead post something that u truly believe in, controversial or not. Many bloggers around the world are famous not because they are critical, but because they are able to convince their readers.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Why RSS?

As promised, I will be writing on the topic to persuade you readers that RSS is the next "must-have" thing on your list!

Why RSS? Reason is really simple, because it saves time!

How much time is wasted everyday going to blogs and realise that they ARE NOT updated, how about knowing about their updates even before you type in their url? THAT is the magic of RSS!

There are a lot of RSS readers around that allow you to see in your bookmark bar if the website/blog updated itself. forexample, if you bookmark my RSS feed everytime i update my blog, there will be a (1) beside it to indicate the number of updates I made.

Of course, I do understand that some browsers have yet to support RSS (for i do not know what reason), so here comes the reader, which could really make your lives easier. All you have to do is to bookmark my site in the reader (along with other blogs,) and you are able to view all our updates all via 1 URL. Talk about efficiency!

Okok, personally, I am using google reader, though still in beta. There are a lot of readers around and I recommend those that i prefer on my sidebar. For google reader, you need not register if you have a gmail/google account.

You can add directly if you know the URL of the blog which uses blogger, livejournal, myspace etc etc.

If not, you do a quick search for the url, for example, this time round I chose to find subscribe to tomorrow.sg bulletin... so i searched tomorrow.sg...

the result...

and in the end, after you bookmarked the sites you want...and you can read the entries like how you read EMAIL!

isnt that great...

ok, so my subscription is at the side bar, feel free to try any of the readers, they are all good and well-used by the netizens around the world.

Monday, February 19, 2007

New Year New Template

Hrm... That sounds familar isnt it? I think i said that during New Year 2007, when I changed my banner and some layout (for the worst, according to some). Thus i took advantage of the 4 days long holiday, in the midst of homeworks and some gambling with my relatives, I managed to come out with this WONDERFUL template. ...

So whats new? For one, I added RSS feeds adder to my side bar. LOOK! Its great ok, I will elaborate on RSS and why RSS the next time round, but do subscribe to save time!

NO TAGBOARD, comments please! Hey readers, theres this nice little comment button at the end of my post that allow you to write your comment, this comment will be kept and referenced to the post you commented to. This works better than the tagboard, however with the tagboard, people will naturally tag my board, instead of commenting. I want to archive all your precious comments alright? so comment away.

You may say that I am emo or whatever, but I feel really great when I am with my family. A few instances I just felt like bursting "I LOVE YOU" to my mom. ahh, but no guts. Talk about the conservative nature of asian families. But i felt really great when I am with my distant cousin etc etc. And I thought I would detest to be with a big crowd of people. I guess there is a special bond between us. *wink*

Then again, I love being with my primary school friends as well. Its great to see the same group of friends grow after 4 years. Yes, its fast. 4 years since my primary school days. I think I will go back as long as Ms/Mrs. Tok stay in Zhenghua.

Other than homeworks, I went to two movies in such a short span of time. Ghost rider and Just follow rules. Both are great movie I guess, but i enjoy the latter more. I like Jack Neo's movie, it could always relate to me. (though probably, this time the things do not happen to me directly.) and i realised... Fann Wong seriously DO NOT LOOK like her age.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Competitions

Took a short break from blogging, admist all the tests and competitions I was busy with.

But I AM BACK!

Firstly, I am really glad and happy that I have an efficient team of 4 scouts that took part in some scouts competition. And surprisingly we won 3rd. 3rd in the nation. Considering the fact that we went to bishan library to sleep during the break, while others are frivorously practicing, and our heats was the one and only time we practiced, getting third is a result totally unexpected.

My mugging season is already over. I am preparing hard for my AEP project which is totally behind schedule. I intend to spend my CNY holidays doing it. Like, its time for me to catch up, yea?

Another unexpected win was from ACS (i) life science symposium. We are the champion! I shan't elaborate, all in all it was UNEXPECTED.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Out of breath

Gasp! all of a sudden, I am feeling asthmatic. Must be the stress, the immense stress that is crushing down me, it not allowing me to breath properly. BUT HEY who can crush victor? *winks*

Man, I must believe I am undefeatable. Failure, I have tasted enough of it, thanks. I still remember a doctor I went to told me that true successor is a person who is able to climb up again and again after failures, not one with a smooth journey. This was drilled straight right into my head (perhaps, it is because I am sick at that point of time, vulnerable... ). Thats why, all the failures in year 3 (including a term of 3.5 msg) did not manage to knock me out. I am not sure if I am recovering, but one thing for sure, I am climbing back up. It is not that I did not feel sad over my retarded MSG last year, many may said that I am apathatic to even my own results! But no, I chose to recover faster than others, I chose to spend the time thinking of ways to study instead of crying over spilt milk. I had always believed that once a test is handed in, there is pretty much no point in finding out the answers directly, before the teacher mark your script, you are just finding oppurtunity to crush your own morale. Stupid. Dumb.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Algoco, pwn the internet

In my spare time, ( which seriously isnt much), I was surfing around, and I came across this site. Algoco - own the internet (thats their tagline, mind you). Seriously, I would just brush it off as another scam, but since it was so furiously promoted by one of my favourite blogger, I decided to give it a shot. And you! my readers, should give it a shot too!

It works very differently from adsense of google (ie. the advertisement I have at the side of the blog, yes I do earn money when you click them). It is something that allows you to earn money when you are surfing, kind of exciting isn't it? However, their viewbar isn't really ready yet. So now, its the time to refer people and build up your network, at the same time generate revenue when the viewbar is ready.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Cranky me

For some weird reason today, Im getting a little cranky. Don't ask me the reason, because I also do not know. I just feel "lao-leeish" at the moment. but allow me to show you something I found in the web.

LOVE - When your eyes meet across a crowded room. LUST - When your tongues meet across a crowded room. MARRIAGE - When you lose your child in crowded room.

LOVE - When you share everything you own. LUST - When you steal everything they own. MARRIAGE - When the bank owns everything.

LOVE - When you write poems about your partner. LUST - When all you write is your phone number. MARRIAGE - When all you write is checks.

LOVE - When you show concern for your partner's feelings. LUST - When you couldn't care less MARRIAGE - When your only concern is what's on TV.

LOVE - When your farewell is "I Love you, darling..." LUST - When your farewell is "So, same time next week..." MARRIAGE - When your farewell is a relief.

LOVE - When you are proud to be seen in public with your partner. LUST - When you only see each other naked. MARRIAGE - When you never see each other awake.

LOVE - When your heart flutters every time you see them. LUST - When your groin twitches every time you see them. MARRIAGE - When your wallet empties every time you see them.